London Photos | >Re-PHOTO

Hampstead, Old And Modern – 1990

Continuing my walk in Hampstead on Sunday 9th April 1990. The previous post was More Hampstead – 1990 and ended at The Mount.

*Holly Mount, Holly Hill, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4g-63*

Hampstead is a hilly part of North London and Hollybush Steps up beside the house at the start of The Mount lead to another street with ‘mount’ in is name, Holly Mount which leads on to Holly Hill.

My picture is from the corner where Holly Mount meets Holly Hill, looking back down Holly Mount and on the left is the Holly Bush pub, with beyond that Hollybush House, with Hollybush Steps just out of sight around the corner. There is an awful lot of ‘Holly’ in that last sentence and this area of hillside was in earlier times covered with holly bushes.

But apparently the area was until the mid-nineteenth century known as Cloth Hill as its abundant springs made it a good place for washing clothes including laundries serving the Royal Household in Whitehall. Perhaps they hung their washing to dry on the holly bushes. But when the area was further developed and gentrified in the early Victorian era they chose to remember the holly rather than dirty washing. Ian Visits web site has a detailed illustrated article on the alley and Holly Mount.

The Grade II listed Holly Bush pub is a fine pub I’ve visited on several occasions. It was built in the 1790s as a stable block for the home and studio of portrait painter George Romney, but in 1807 was converted to provide catering for Hampstead Assembly Rooms. By around the middle of the nineteenth century it had begun to be used as a pub, but was apparently not fully licenced until 1928. In 2010 it was bought by Fullers and is a pub whose restaurant and drink prices reflect its situation in one of the most affluent areas of London.

*Mount Vernon, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4g-65*

Slopes lead up from Holly Hill to yet another mount in Hampstead, Mount Vernon, which gets its name from Major General Charles Vernon MP (1791-1810) who owned land here. The blue plaque is for Sir Henry Dale (1875–1968), a pharmacologist and physiologist who shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Otto Loewi for his work on acetylcholine as agent in the chemical transmission of nerve pulses.

At the end of the street is another blue plaque on the corner with Holly Walk, to the rather more famous Robert Louis Stevenson.

St Mary's, RC, Church, Holly Walk, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4g-53 — *St Mary’s, RC, Church, Holly Walk, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4g-53*

The church was first established here by a French Catholic priest Abbé Jean-Jacques Morel (1766–1852) who fled here from the French Revolution but it only had a church building here from 1816 and even then it looked nothing like this.

London had had a week of huge anti-Catholic riots in 1780, the Gordon Riots, and after a week of widespread destruction the army were brought in and around 500 rioters were killed and many injured and arrested. In 1816 anti-Catholic feeling was still running high and at first the church was built to look like another Georgian house.

By the 1850s feelings had quietened and the law had changed to allow Catholic churches to ring bells and William Wardell designed this facade with its bell tower, statue of the Virgin and Child and a massive doorway. Abbé Jean-Jacques Morel died in 1852, the year it was finished.

*Sun House, Frognal Way, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4g-21*

Various streets in the area share the name Frognal – and rather to my surprise simply because they were developed where a lot of frogs lived and croaked. Much of the area is private streets where Google Streetview does not go.

Sun House at 9 Frognal Way is Grade II* listed, as “a pioneer work of the Modern Movement in the UK“, designed by Maxwell Fry and built in 1935-6. “Fry was a founder member of the MARS Group which did much to forward the cause of the new architecture.”

It is a difficult house to photograph from the street as it it largely hidden behind trees and now also I think behind tall gates.

*House, Frognal, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4g-25*

66 Frognall is another Grade II* listed modern house, designed by Colin Lucas with
Amyas Connell and Basil Ward in 1937-8, on the corner with Frognal Way.

*House, Frognal, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4g-11*

Another photograph of the Grade II* listed 66 Frognal showing the entrance at its north end.

I’d had enough of Hampstead and had other places to go – I had taken many more pictures than I’ve so far put on line, and perhaps some time I’ll go back and scan more. But Hampstead still seems to me a place of its own, not really a part of the real London I know.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Arrival, Business, Alfredo’s and Paradise – 1992

Arrival, Business, Alfredo’s and Paradise: More colour pictures from my walk in Islington which although are in my January 1993 folder I now find were actually taken in mid-December 1992, but were only processed in the following month. The previous post which was from the beginning of my walk was wrongly titled Islington in Colour – January 1993.

It seemed more about departure than arrival for this closed shop, which was at 130 New North Road on the corner with Poole St. At left you can see the fairly distinctive bridge over the Regent’s Canal still there though this shop and the other buildings between it and the canal was replaced not long after with a large block whose ground floor is occupied by a Co-op food store.

My guess was that Arrival had been a café. I liked the faded canopies with a sun motive and the columns supported on square blocks, I think painted on or tiled over the brickwork as well as the graffiti tags and fly posting for the Dalston Lane Car Boot and Brixton Academy. The disused shop had been firmly sealed against squatters.

Business Design Centre, Upper St, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-32 — *Business Design Centre, Upper St, Islington, 1992, 93c01-01-32*

The Business Design Centre opened in October 1986, built in the Grade II listed Royal Agricultural Hall built in 1861-2 to the design by Frederick Peck for agricultural shows and continued in use for these until 1938, also hosting other events such as the he Royal Tournament and the first Crufts dog show.

During the Second World War it was taken over by the military and after the Mount Pleasant sorting office was devastated by bombing became a Royal Mail parcels depot. After they moved out the large site remained empty until bought and converted by Sam Morris to an exhibition venue, conference centre, showrooms and offices as the Business Design Centre which opened in October 1986.

Business Design Centre, Upper St, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-34 — *Business Design Centre, Upper St, Islington, 1992, 93c01-01-34*

I imagine that this sculpture showing two Sumo wrestlers holding up a shipping container was there in conjunction with an event taking place in the Business Design Centre and I have no idea how long it remained in place. Unfortunately none of the handful of frames I made in black and white and colour include enough of the board with text about the event.

The shipping container appears to be an actual used container, with clear signs of wear – and if it was a standard 20ft container will have weighed around 2,300kg – quite a weight for two wrestlers.

Alfredo’s is still there, though no longer a snack bar but a café and restaurant renamed Alfredo’s 1920. I photographed it again in 1986 and here is what I wrote when I posted this on Facebook:

“Established 1920 and with a fine frontage. Details of this still remain in its current use by bistro Meat People, although the central Alfredo’s Snack Bar is long gone and the panel it was on is now plain and rectangular and there is no drop shadow on the plain name MEAT PEOPLE. But at the top of the white vertical panel it now states ‘FORMERLY ALFREDO’S’ and at it’s base ‘ESTABLISHED 1920’ and has some of the same text as before, with the rest altered to reflect the current usage.”

Essex Rd, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-25 — *Essex Rd, Islington, 1993, 92c01-01-25*

I’m unsure as to how I would categorise the shop with this window display, but I think it was probably run by an ex-boxer. I can’t read the small print under the photograph at top left but I think it is the American boxer Jack Dempsey, (1895 – 1983), “nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and was world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926.” He was best known for the two controversial fights he had with Gene Turney in 1926 and 1927, both of which he lost.

In the window along with the boxing pictures are WD-40, furniture and leather creams, brushes, a hammer, jugs, superglue, a rabbit and more.

Harley Davidson Power, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-11 — *Harley Davidson Power, Islington, 1992, 93c01-01-11*

I now have no idea where this angry looking snake with the white strip with the messages ‘Harley Davidson’ and ‘Power’ was, or why, though perhaps it was a motorcycle dealer.

Sunflower on Wall, Islington, 1993, 93c01-02-72 — *Sunflower on Wall, Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-72*

For something very different I photographed this painted sunflower next to a door on the wall, presumable leading to two flats, though the number on it, ‘1 B C’ is rather odd. From the parking notice it would seem to be on a fairly busy road. There are two blind windows, probably from when the building was converted to flats.

The picture is very noisy, and although the plant has a shadow, this is painted and the plant pot floats oddly in space. I think the noise is because I under-exposed the negative, though it may also reflect a processing fault. It was taken on a dull December day and perhaps this particular corner was duller than most.

This building is still there but now residential and the metal shutter had been replaced by what looks like wood. The building is in the gap between two semi-detached houses on the street.

Angel's Paradise, Islington, 1993, 93c01-02-76 — *Angel’s Paradise, Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-76*

The rather strange colours in this picture are perhaps appropriate, though I think due to a processing fault. There was a legendary night club on Parkfield Street which was demolished in the late 1990s for the Angel Central shopping complex, but I’m unsure whether this was that venue or another perhaps earlier location – or a completely different Paradise. I’ve been unable to find other pictures which clearly show the Paradise club.

Here is my quick attempt to improve the colour – after having cropped the image to remove a damaged area at left.

More from December 1992 in Islington to come.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Ganesh Chaturthi Festival Southall – 2005

Ganesh Chaturthi Festival: On Sunday 9th October 2005 I got on my bike and rode to Southall to photograph a Hindu festival which was apparently being celebrated for the first time in England. This was one of many community and religious festivals which I photographed in the first ten or so years of this century – the previous day I had photographed the Catholic Rosary Crusade of Reparation in Westminster and there are pictures of this also on the October 2005 page of My London Diary. At the start of the same month I’d gone to Southall before for a guided tour of the splendid Sikh Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara which opened in 2003.

I was born and grew up in Middlesex, just a few miles from Southall and when young would sometimes cycle there to the footbridge over the Great Western Railway close to the station where steam trains would hurtle past.

In 1950 a local factory owner brought workers from India, and soon others began to follow them, finding jobs at Heathrow Airport, London Transport and other organisations some recruiting in India. Over my growing years the population of the town and of Hounslow where I was living just to the south became increasingly of Indian origin – and I grew to love the smell and taste of curry.

Now in the 2020s around 70% of the population define themselves as Asian, from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other areas, though many of them have been born here. Over the years I’ve visited it for various events and enjoyed the vibrancy of its streets and Indian food at some of its cheaper cafés with Indian friends.

But some of the events I’ve gone there to photograph have been reminders of the racial tensions there in the 1970s, and in particular of the murders of Sikh teenager Gurdip Singh Chagga by racists in 1976 and anti-racist activist Blair Peach, murdered by police while protesting against the National Front in 1979.

I was made to feel very welcome at the 2004 event and I think I was the only photographer taking pictures, with not even the local newspaper in attendance. I turned down the invitation to travel on the lorry to the Thames at Putney with the group as I needed to cycle home.

Here is what I wrote about the event back in 2004:

“Another celebration the following day was also dedicated to world peace, as the Ganesh Chaturthi Festival was celebrated in this country for the first time. The tradition of this Ganapati festival dates back to 1895 in Maharashtra, India. It aims to raise awareness of Hindu culture in Britain and “to bring people from different faiths and walks of like together in order to promote peace and harmony in a multicultural society.”

“Statues of Lord Ganesh specially brought from India were transported through the centre of Southall, from the Vishwa Hindu Temple to the site of the oldest Hindu temple* in Britain, Ram Mandir in King Street and back.

“Later the statues were to be taken to the Thames and ritually immersed in the water at Putney, close to the starting point of the Boat Race. Unfortunately i had to miss this part of the event.”

* Shree Ram Mandir, Southall began in 1965 but I think the Slough temple may have started a couple of years earlier.

There are many more pictures from the event which was also attended by the local MP, the Mayor and a few people from local churches, beginning here on My London Diary.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Rainham to Harold Wood – 2004

Rainham to Harold Wood: On Friday 8 October 2004 I put my Brompton folding bicycle on the train from Staines to Waterloo and then made my way to Rainham, the furthest station east my Travelcard would take me. I can’t now remember if I rode across the city to Fenchurch Street Station or took the slower but lazier route on the Jubilee Line to West Ham to transfer to the C2C train.

This was a ride inspired by Iain Sinclair’s book ‘London Orbital’, published in 2002, based on his walks around the M25. I’d been given the hardback as a Christmas present from my wife to add to his other works on our groaning bookshelves. In 2003 it came out as a paperback and secondhand copies of both this and the hardback are readily available online.

Of course, just as Sinclair couldn’t actually walk along the motorway, neither could I ride along it, but plotted a route that more or less followed it, crossing a couple of times from one side to another.

Sinclair’s book is still an interesting read – and having taken it down from the shelf I’ll probably read it again – or perhaps watch the film. It’s a book full of interesting stories, including of the gestation of London Heathrow where he writes about the way that the war cabinet were deceived into using emergency wartime powers “to establish, by a network of dubious commercial deals, a major airport that was only 15 miles from the centre of London.” A deception that we still suffer from and which our politicians now seem determined to expand despite its disastrous environmental consequences.

Sinclair’s walk passed within five minutes walk of where I live and contains some interesting insights on many places familiar from my own forty years of walking around London within the M25 which form the basis of most of the roughly 45,000 images in my Flickr albums. In 2025 The Observer included London Orbital as one of the best 25 books of the first 25 years of this century.

London Orbital is also a 2002 “visionary film” directed by Christopher Petit and Iain Sinclair, according to IMDb starring another of my favourite London writers, J G Ballard, who lived a couple of miles away from me in Shepperton. The full video has been removed from Vimeo due to copyright issues but you can still view the trailer and apparently can buy or rent the film

I didn’t write much about the ride back in 2004, though the ten pictures on My London Diary have captions. Here is the complete main text:

Earlier in the month I’d taken the Brompton for a ride along the eastern edge of London from Rainham to Harold Wood, most of the time close to the M25. its very rural most of the way, quite unlike Staines which somehow got left out of London. My ride even included the only part of Greater London outside the M25, North Ockenden.

*Gravestone of Geraldine Elizabeth Batt, “Our Lady” to London Thieves, and who was buried at North Ockenden in 1931, and her sister Margaret.*

In 2004 I could find nothing about Geraldine Elizabeth Batt, but since then much more information has been posted online, in the reports of the Thurrock Local History Society, where on 5 May 2026 Phil Lobley gave a talk on her and other members of her family. Although it gives information on Geraldine and Margaret (and this an other talks are recorded on the page in fascinating detail), he concluded that nothing has been found as to why this inscription was used, but suggested it might be a reference to the help gave to the poor and criminal classes in her work with the mission of St. John the Evangelist in Red Lion Square in Holborn where she lived for many years and ran a Boy’s Club. Another sister married into a family connected with North Ockenden and that family was probably responsible for her burial there and for this memorial.

You can still see the small number of pictures I originally posted on My London Diary at Rainham to Harold Wood. Most on this post are pictures not included there.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

More Hampstead – 1990

More Hampstead: More from my walk in Hampstead on Sunday 9th April 1990. The previous post was Hampstead Alleys, Hospital, Baths, House, Heath – 1990.

Hampstead wasn’t (and isn’t) an area of London I feel particularly sympathetic or comfortable in and I prefer the less affluent areas of the capital and those with more industry and that are less arty.

I worked hard at taking pictures but somehow find many of them less interesting and looking back at them over 30 years later have digitised a rather smaller proportion. The eight in this post come from around 60 that I took on this section of the walk, almost all carefully composed and correctly exposed. Probably I should go back and digitise more, but I think Hampstead is a part of London that many others have photographed and so my pictures are perhaps less important.

*Houses, Cannon Place, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4e-31*

I walked down from Hampstead Heath and turned into Cannon Place, where Sir Gerakd Du Maurier lived in Cannon Hall from 1916 until his death in 1935, and the childhood home of Daphne du Maurier and her siblings. The last Secretary of the East India Company had bought Rous Hall around 1838 and put a few old naval cannons in its grounds, renaming the house Cannon Hall. I haven’t digitised my picture of the Hall but found these two dogs mguarding the steps of one of the substantial Victorian houses in the neighbourhood.

*Lion House, 19, Well Rd, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4e-22*

Back on Well Road I took this picture of part of the Grade II listed Italianate Gothic Lion House, part of the large detached villa The Logs, built for civil engineer Edward Gotto (1822-1897) who was for several years in charge of North London’s sewers and went on to build sewers around the world. For him muck was obviously brass and this large house was designed by J.S. Nightingale and built by Charles Till in 1861. This section was named Lion House when the property was divided in 1951. Boy George lived in the Logs from the mid 1980s, and he sold his part of the house for £22million in 2022.

*House, Heath St, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4e-12*

This is the doorway of the Grade II listed Friends Meeting House at 120 Heath Street designed by Frederick Rowntree in the Arts and Crafts style, very much under the influence of Voysey and built in 1907. Among its famous visitors was Mahatma Gandhi who spoke here in 1909.

*Elm Row, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4e-16*

I think this is the alley with steps which leads from Elm Row to New End.

*Heath St, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4f-62*

The leaping sculptures here have long gone, and there are fences on top of the wall to give greater privacy to the residents of the property on the east side of the street just north of Elm Row. I think it was here that D H Lawrence and Frieda lived rather miserably after their return from New Mexico in 1923, along with Catherine and Donald Carswell, who was the lawyer who checked his work for possible libel claims.

But I can find nothing more about these sculptures.

*Hampstead Grove, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4f-51*

“The Hampstead Scientific Society observatory is one of the few places left in London that provides regular public viewings of the Moon, planets and other objects of interest in the night sky.” Though skies in London have so much light pollution that the view must be rather dim though being on the edge of the heath must help. It would still be interesting to book a free ticket if I lived closer.

The site is on the top of a Victorian covered reservoir, the Kidderpore Reservoir built in 1867 by the West Middlesex Water Company which still stores around 2.5 million gallons pumped here from water works at Hampton to supply 11,000 homes in the area. Still in use it was re-roofed in 2015 but still has its impressive Victorian architectural brickwork hidden away in the water.

*The Mount, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4f-23*

1 The Mount, on the corner of Hollybush Steps, has lost almost all of its interest since I made this picture in 1990. There is a new brick wall and tall hedging hides the front garden, though I think everything in it has gone, along with the vases on the steps, the lions and even the little roof over the door. It just looks neat and plain now.

*The Mount, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4f-24*

Most of this had changed by the time there appears to have been major building work on the site around 2019. What had been quirky and interesting is now rather dull. This large 3 bedroom end terrace house sold in 2017 for £2.64million.

Still more from Hampstead to come.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Islington in Colour – January 1993

Islington in Colour: The first of several posts of colour pictures I made in January 1993 in the London Borough of Islington, mostly in Islington itself. All these pictures are in my Flickr album 1993 London Colour and clicking on any image will take you to a larger version there.

I think the first walk on which I took these pictures began at Kings Cross and I walked into Pentonville. I will post them in the order I made them, but I can’t remember the exact location of some of these. Please comment if you recognise where they were.

*Mural, Magnus Irvin, 1982, London, 1993, 93c01-01-73*

Magnus Irvin, born in 1955, is a prolific public artist and his work includes many murals, but this one is not included in the murals page on his web site. He designed and painted this one in 1982. Perhaps it refers to Joseph Grimaldi who basically invented the clown as we know it and is buried in the area.

*Hurst House, Weston Rise, Pentonville, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-61*

This striking post-war brutalist estate was designed Howell, Killick, Partridge & Amis for the Greater London Council and built in 1964-7. As well as photographing it in black and white I made this colour image.

*Hairdresser, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-63*

A sign reflected in the window points to Chapel Market and this HIGH CLASS GENTS TOILET SALOON was at No. 114. Few streets in the area have numbers this high.

Demos Modes Ltd, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-65

This closed shop up for sale was definitely at No.5, but again I cannot remember which road it was on or find any information on Demos Modes Ltd.

*Shop Window, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-66*

A dramatic figure in a window display, I think selling crash helmets for motorcyclists. Wearing them had become compulsory in the UK twenty years earlier in 1973.

*Crash Repairs, Mural, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-53*

A mural which leaves you in no doubt about what the business it is advertising offers, but I suspect most of its clients had rather less sporty models.

*Mural, School Playground, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-55*

I think this and the picture below are from the same school playground.

*Mural, School Playground, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-42*

A mural of rural scenes in a school playground, perhaps reflecting the rural past of the area. There were once watermills on the River Fleet which ran in places along the borough’s western boundary, and certainly farms with sheep and geese, but I think all will have disappeared by the age of the tractor cutting corn.

More colour from Islington to come.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Hampstead Alley, Hospital, Baths, House, Heath – 1990

Hampstead Alley, Hospital, Baths, House, Heath: My walk on Sunday 9th April 1990 continues. The walk began at my post A Hampstead Walk -1990.

Streatley Place, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4d-26

Another picture of Streatley Place. The narrow width of this alley makes it difficult to photograph, and it still retains some of the character of the rural path through fields which had still still been at the end of the 18th century. By the time of the 1860s OS Map it was completely surrounded by buildings – and was then known as Brewhouse Lane.

For reasons unknown to me its name changed around 1890 to Streatley Place. Some of the 19th century buildings of what began as Hampstead Workhouse, later New End Hospital, which backed onto Streatley Place were converted to flats around 1990.

As you can see the path slopes fairly steeply up here.

*Mansfield Place, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4d-15*

As Camden Council’s Conservation Appraisal states, Mansfield Place, built in 1860-61, is a “secluded quadrangle of low, two storey cottages approached down a narrow path between long front garden plots” making “a dramatic contrast between the cottage type gardens and the former hospital buildings looming up behind them” which you can see in this picture. Mansfield Place is Grade II listed.

*Streatley Place, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4e-65*

More steps on Streatley Place, I think looking down to the row of houses in a previous picture, part of the development around the alley around 1860.

*New Hospital, New End, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4e-51*

There is an extensive description of the history of New End Hospital which began life in 1800 as Hampstead Workhouse on the Lost Hospitals of London web site.

At left of picture is the 1878 building for the vestry then responsible for the hospital. Its architect Henry Edward Kendall was also responsible for the Vestry Hall built in the same year which later became Hampstead Town Hall. It was named Kendall Hall. The ‘New Hospital’, a slightly plainer block, was added in 1896. The hospital closed in 1986, and most of it was converted to flats.

*The Wells and Campden Baths, Wash House, 71, Flask Walk, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4e-55*

The Grade II listed Wells and Campden Baths were built in 1888 by architect Henry Simpson Legg for the Wells and Campden Charity, close to the site of the original Hampstead spring in Flask Walk though I think they relied on the local water supply then provided by a private water company, but later by the Metropolitan Water Board.

At the time it opened few of the homes where the working-class lived had bathrooms, often just a single cold tap, sometimes shared with other households, and public baths such as as this provided a much needed facility with many coming here and to other public baths for a weekly bath – soap and towels provided as well as hot water.

The Wells and Campden charity built baths in Kilburn and here. As well as the nine private baths in the building there was also a laundry and drying room. The baths was leased and run by the council (who had also opened their own baths) in 1906 as the charity found them too expensive to continue running. Perhaps surprisingly the baths continued in use until around 1978. The were converted to private flats in the 1980s.

*House, Well Walk, East Heath Rd, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4e-56*

Architect Ewan Christian designed this house at 50 Well Walk on the corner with East Heath Road in 1881 for his family and called it Thwaitehead, but later it became known as Klippan House. It was built by Norfolk builders Cornish and Gaymer. Christian (1814-95) was a well-known and extremely prolific church architect who became President and Gold Medallist of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and was the architect of the National Portrait Gallery.

You can read more about it and see a rather better picture of this house and of its interiors from Belsize Architects who refurbished the house in 2010, converting the Grade II listed building back into a single residence for Daniel and Gaynor Harris and their daughters who had bought it for £11 million. They restored many of its original features, but could not restore the view it had when built of Hampstead Heath.

*Hampstead Heath, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4e-43*

But a short walk from that house took me to Hampstead Heath, where you can see a church spire and some rooftops over a small hillock.

My walk continued – more posts later.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

More Thamesmead Panoramas – 1994

More Thamesmead Panoramas: This final set of panoramic images came from my final visit to Thamesmead in November 1994.

*Lesnes Abbey, Ruins, Abbey Wood, Bexley, 1994, 94-1104-42*

I began and ended the day at Abbey Wood station and I no longer remember the route of the walk that I tookm but I think I began by going to the Lesnes Abbey Ruins. After the Norman conquest in 1066 land here was given to Bishop Odo, the half-brother of William the Conqueror and Bishop of Bayeux (and pictured on that tapestry he probably commissioned as a gift to his brother.)

Odo was the man who ran the country for his brother – until he was tried for fraud and disgraced. Odo was forgiven on William’s deathbed. But Lesnes Abbey was only founded in 1178 by the man then in charge of England for Henry II, Richard de Luci. He retired here then, possibly as a penance for his role earlier inspiring the 1170 murder of Thomas Beckett, and died three months after retiring.

The Abbey was always small and was closed by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525 as it had fewer than seven men living there. Much of the stones were taken away as building material with the abbot’s house becoming a part of a farmhouse. The London County Council bought the site and grounds in 1930 and opened it as a public park.

*Abbey Way, Footpath, Footbridge, Abbey Rd, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-1104-21*

From the ruins I walked to the elevated footpath which leads into Thamesmead South.

*Abbey Way, Footpath, Footbridge, Abbey Rd, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-1104-12*

The footbridge goes across Abbey Road and to the north gives a view of the tower blocks of Thamesmead across the horizon.

*Clocktower, Deptford Dockyard, Joyce Dawson Way, Thamesmead, Greenwich, 1994, 94-1003-32*

I don’t think I made many other panoramas as I walked towards the river, and this is one I made on an earlier visit. It isn’t a good picture of the clock tower as it doesn’t show the clock!

When Convoys took over the old Royal Naval Dockyard in 1960 to bring newsprint into London they had no interest in its history and despite many objections they demolished the large Great Storehouse and many other old buildings on the site. The clock tower which had been a later addition on the top of this ancient wooden building was saved by urgent pleas and left by the riverside at Convoys Wharf when the building was demolished in 1981.

But it was still just a nuisance to Convoys and they still were threatening to demolish it. The tower was saved by the GLC and taken by boat to Thamesmead and erected here in the middle of a commercial centre.

*Tavy Bridge Centre, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-1102-22*

At some point in my visit I made another visit to the Tavy Btidge Centre and made a few more panoramas.

Tavy Bridge Centre, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-1102-11

Tavy Bridge Centre, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-1102-12

*Riverside Path, River Thames, Thamesmead, Greenwich, 1994, 94-1103-22*

The River Thames is around a mile and a half away. On a previous visit I had taken another panorama from an almost identical position, but I think this is a rather better composition with the rail lined up carefully with the opposite shore.

These two lines are in the vertical centre of the image and so remain straight. Standing up a little to the right of centre above them is the Barking Creek Barrier.

*Goldfish Are Wankers, Graffiti, Riverside Path, River Thames, Thamesmead, Greenwich, 1994, 94-1103-23*

I couldn’t decide which was the more interesting work of art, the strange yellow sculpture or the graffiti on the wall behind. The wall is the flood barrier to protect Thamesmead, much of which is low-lying.

*Crossness Nature Reserve, Thamesmead East, Bexley, 1994, 94-1101-61*

The Crossness Nature Reserve is to the east of Thamesmead, just past the large Crossness Sewage Treatment Works. When opened in 1865 the the sewage from London south of the Thames was simply pumped into the Thames when the tide was going out, but a large area of land was taken over to treat it before release around 1890.

*Crossness Nature Reserve, Thamesmead East, Bexley, 1994, 94-1103-41*

This is the end of my posts of colour pictures from around Thamesmead in 1994 though there are still a few more in my Flickr colour album for that year – as well as others in the 1994 black and white album.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

A Hampstead Walk -1990

A Hampstead Walk: On Sunday 9th April 1990 I took the North London Line to Hampstead Heath Station and began wandering around the streets near there. Of course I’d been to Hampstead before, walked on the Heath and visited some of the better known attractions, but I’d rather put off taking many photographs there. I’ve always felt more comfortable on the streets of the more plebeian areas of London.

*Gate, 29, Hampstead Hill Gardens, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4c-11*

On Hampstead Hill Gardens the morning light was just right for the gateway and porte-cochère at number 29, a simple but satisfying iron and glass structure on very solid gate posts. The house is of course still there, but it lost this distinctive feature some time around 2010.

Hampstead Hill Gardens was developed around 1870 with stucco houses like this and completed with a number of red-brick Queen Anne Revival houses designed by Thomas Batterbury and W.F. Huxley further around the street around the end of the decade. A number of those are Grade II listed but they failed to interest me enough to photograph them.

St John's, Church, Downshire Hill, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4d-65 — *St John’s, Church, Downshire Hill, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4d-65*

St John’s Church, technically a proprietary chapel of the Church of England, was built in 1823 and in 1832 became the subject of an ecclesiastical dispute between the Calvinist evangelical John Wilcox and the perpetual curate of the parish Samuel White who refused permission for Wilcox to preach there. Wilcox lost the case and the church was closed until 1835 when Wilcox died and was replaced by another more mainstream minister, while the “church’s name remained infamous in ecclesiastical circles for some years following“.

Something about the building reminded me of the wooden building blocks I played with as a child – before the advent of Lego. In a neo-Classical style and Grade II listed I was not surprised to read in the listing “Possibly by CR Cockerell or designed by its builder, William Woods” and it looks like a builder’s idea of a church in that style.

Figurehead, House, 8, Pilgrims Way, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4d-51 — *Figurehead, House, 8, Pilgrims Lane, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4d-51*

I was amused by the figurehead on the house apparently looking down at the white-stockinged legs of a child standing on the pavement. On the house is a Hampstead Plaque Fund Plaque stating:

William Johnson Cory
Ionicus
Teacher, scholar and poet. Lived in this house. An assistant master at Eton College 1845 – 1872, he composed the Eton Boating Song.

In 1872 a letter Cory wrote to one of his pupils was found by his parents and shown to the Headmaster of Eton; Cory was forced to resign. Widely regarded as one of Eton’s best masters, he was well-known “for encouraging a culture of intimacy, possibly non-sexual, between teachers and pupils“.

Cory (1823-92) wrote the words for the Eton Boating Song during the Christmas break in 1862 and it was first performed in the following year to the setting of his former pupil Captain Algernon Drummond. In later years it has been much parodied, notably in the obscene song “The Sexual Life of the Camel“, a popular song in the after-match bath and changing rooms when I played rugby many years ago.

After a few years abroad following his resignation Cory came to live in this Queen Anne style house on Pilgrims Lane until his death. For some years the front of the house has been hidden behind a tall wooden fence, probably with extensive building work being carried out. Some of the houses in Pilgrim’s Lane were not well built and it may be one. According to Camden Council, “No.8 is an interesting Arts and Crafts influenced house. It has a gable with decorative brickwork and distinct chimneys.”

Pilgrims Lane gets its name from a former Hampstead resident James Pilgrim who bought land here in 1787 and died in 1813 (or possibly his son Charles Pilgrim who held on to a small part of his estate.) Too many famous people have lived on the street to list here.

*Albany House, Flask Walk, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4d-31*

Albany House was one of first purpose-built blocks of flats in the area when it was built around 1873. It is still flats.

*Boades Mews, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4d-22*

Boades Mews is a short pedestrian street with some granite steps and setts, some name signs, a high brick school wall and a couple of residential properties. It links Flask Walk to New End. Once it was an actual mews.

*New End Primary School, Streatley Place, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4d-23*

New End Primary School in Streatley Place is still in use as “a happy and diverse school situated in Hampstead Village.” The flamboyant Edwardian baroque Grade II listed school was built in 1906, architect T J Bailey. It is said to be his best building.

*Streatley Place, Hampstead, Camden, 1990, 90-4d-24*

Streatley Place begins just off the busy Heath Street as a narrow alley off Back Lane and only widens a little by the school, whose playground is over the wall at the left of this picture. The chimney was for the boiler house of New End Hospital, founded in 1869 as the infirmary for the Hampstead Union workhouse which was closed and sold for redevelopment in 1986.

Thamesmead & The Thames – 1994

Thamesmead & The Thames: More pictures from my October and November 1994 visits to Thamesmead.

*Tavy Bridge, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-1003-61*

I hope the captions which I wrote at the time are accurate, but I found parts of Thamesmead rather confusing to walk around. There are both streets and raised walkways and various footpaths, and I don’t think the map was always too helpful.

*Tavy Bridge Centre, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-1003-63*

However these shops were certainly at the Tavy Bridge Centre. Thamesmead is built on the flood plain and the whole area had been badly flooded before the new estate was developed. The planners decided to build with garages at street level and the living areas of the housing at first floor and above so as not to be vulnerable to floods.

*Tavy Bridge, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-1003-52*

Some of the areas liable to flooding have since been rebuilt with housing at ground level. I assume that the river walls are now thought to be an adequate defence, but would not myself buy a house there.

*Footbridge, Yarnton Way, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-116-41*

Sea levels are slowly rising as the earth gets hotter because of increasing levels of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels means that ice melts. The Thames Barrier still protects most of London, but will need to be replaced. Thamesmead is downstream of the barrier and so will need its own extra protection. At some point with high spring tides and an easterly gale this will be overtopped.

*River Thames, Beckton, Canary Wharf, Thamesmead, Bexley, Greenwich, 1994, 94-115-44*

I walked on to the riverside promenade, Thameside Walk. Looking towards the west both the remains of the Beckton gas works and Canary Wharf were visible though there was considerable haze due to air pollution in London.

*River Thames, Ford, Dagenham, Thamesmead, Bexley, Greenwich, 1994, 94-115-45*

Across the Thames and a little to the east was the vast Ford complex at Dagenham, its logo visible on the water tower at left.

*Promenade, River Thames, Thamesmead, Bexley, 1994, 94-115-35*

The river is stretches away east towards the estuary, turning around towards the south in the distance. At the left of the picture is the Essex bank. The river is a little over 2000 feet wide here.

The panoramic images here were taken on a Russian Horizon swing-lens camera, its 28mm lens giving a horizontal angle of view of around 127 degrees (often stated as 120.) The negatives, on standard 35mm film are 58x24mm, a similar width as a ‘6×6’ medium format camera though only 2/5 the height. It was possible to use the camera handheld, but for these pictures I used a sturdy Manfrotto tripod, usually working from a normal eye height of a little over 5 foot.

More to come from Thamesmead.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos